Saint Hitomi
Saint Hitomi, known to her fellow villagers as just "Hitomi", was a childless widow who was honored as a saint after her miracluous display of bravery against a bugbear raid. Personal life Saint Hitomi lived in the small village of Van in Vistria during and after the times of the Blood Whip. Her husband had died just one year before the Bugbear attack. She had no children, and seemed to be, if not poor, then lower middle class as she had just a small cottage in her village. The Plauge The Blood Whip had ravaged Vistria for many years before the attack, because of the rampant distrust of outsiders trade had ceased. This caused a practice of subsistance farming amoung the populace of Van. This would be a large problem as a certain group of Bugbears also happened not to have an abundance of food... The Attack Bugbears raided the small town of Van on a quiet winter night. One the Bugbears had started a fire during the chaos, causing many of the residents of the village to flee their houses out into the street, one of these people was Hitomi. As she dashed out into the valley, she saw a young boy at the end of the alley who she did not know. Two bugbears were marching down the street toward the child and Hitomi, and she knew if she ran quickly she could escape. She did not flee, instead she ran to the boy and shielded him with her body, throwing up an arm in a futile attempt to block one of the Bugbears' clubs. Then Hitomi waited for the inevetable, but the blow never came. As Hitomi looked up, she saw the Bugbear looking confused as it stared at its now broken club. It appeared that the club had split over Hitomi's arm. The now enraged Bugbear picked up Hitomi by the throat and lifted her up in the air. As she choked and coughed, she desprately clawed at the Bugbear until she connected with a slap across the face. The Bugbear was catapulted across the street and through a brick wall, and his companion fled the alley in a panic. The boy's mother found him and called him to escape with her. Hitomi walked around the town, not knowing what to do until she saw a group of people being chased by bugbears. She ran to help, but was swatted away by a bugbear. Struggling to recover, Hitomi doubted that she could help the people of her friends, even with her miraculous gift. As the bugbears fell upon a man who had tripped in his frantic fleeing, she decided that she had to try, she lunged at his attacker, knocking him prone and unconscious. Hitomi turned on another bandit leaping to punch it in the face, shaking the leaves from the trees around her. Hitomi had firmly decided that she could and needed to help her village, so she ran to put herself between the largest group of raiders and a group of fleeing refugees. Hitomi stared straight at the monstrous leader and said “By Sirius, I won’t let you hurt these people!” The enraged boss swung his enchanted axe with all his might, forcing Hitomi to block, and sinking her feet 3 feet into the cobblestones. The boss punched her in a fury, then charged her, giving Hitomi little time to block, so she lunged past the boss, catching and disarming his axe. The large bugbear stumbled, giving Hitomi an opening to desperately kick the boss, punting in him with incredible force all the way over the nearest house. The villagers, seeing that the god of protection had given one of their own her favor, charged the bandits with farm tools and kitchen knives, routing the raiders. The food stores were safe for the winter and the village could survive for one more year. Later Life There are many different stories on what Hitomi did next, some of the more fantastical stories say that Hitomi went out roving the countryside, helping all those who needed protection in Sirius’s name. Others say she remarried and settled down with a family. Dedication Many years later, as the nation of Vistria recovered from the Blood Whip, the church of Sirius recognized Hitomi as a Saint. When the Hand of Sirius needed a base of operations, they decided to construct it beside the spot were Hitomi first protected the helpless child from the bugbear. In her honor, the Hand of Sirius named their headquarters The Basilica of Saint Hitomi. Source: TDDC Extras 18